(Note: we are currently unable to provide separate garage cover if your home and buildings cover is with another provider. To provide our flexible cover, we would need to cover either buildings or contents of your main home)
If you have a separate garage on your property then you may need to consider garage insurance for both the contents inside the garage and the structure of the building itself.
Emerald Life home and contents insurance includes any items you have in a shed or garage within the boundary of your property, providing you have included them in your total sum insured.
We can also provide outbuildings insurance for unoccupied properties such as holiday and second homes as well as probate.
Please note we are currently unable to provide contents only insurance for separate garages outside your property.
For garages and outbuildings within the boundary of your property we can cover up to £10,000 of contents.
If you use tools as part of your profession we can cover up to £15,000 of tools kept on your property.
In both these cases, call us today for a fast quote.
Table of Contents
How Do I insure My Outbuildings?
Outbuildings insurance tends to be quite straightforward if the garage or shed is just an outbuilding within the boundary of your property.
You may not even need to declare that your insured contents are in a shed. Either way it is important that you include the rebuild value of the garage and the value of any contents in your sum insured so that they are covered.
Obviously garages can be quite difficult to insure if they are not part of your home itself. A lot of insurers including Emerald Life require the garage or shed to be within the boundary of your property in order to provide shed insurance.
That’s basically the area that is still effectively your self-contained property. If you live in a flat with a separate garage beyond the boundary of your own property then that cannot be included in a standard home and contents policy and so you may need to look at other options of garage or shed insurance.
Outbuilding Insurance
Outbuildings are any additional buildings on your property that are not attached to your home. That could be structures like tool sheds and separate garages.
Providing the outbuilding is within the boundary of your property you can include it in your buildings value total and add the contents value to your home contents policy.
Some insurers are likely to have additional requirements for your outbuildings insurance such as cover limits or lock requirements.
Buildings Value
Estimating your rebuild value to determine your buildings sum insured can be difficult and while we normally recommend using a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors calculator for your home.
Nevertheless any garages may need to be your own estimate as the buildings sum insured for outbuildings can vary considerably.
An outbuilding might be an older construction from a different material. It could contain a hazardous material like asbestos which may require specialist treatment following damage.
Garage Contents Insurance
There’s a good chance that you keep high value items in your garage like lawnmowers and bicycles.
Most home insurance policies provide garage contents insurance as long as the garage is within the boundary of your property. All you need to do is include the value of the contents in your overall contents sum insured.
For contents insurance most home insurance policies let you select a simple band amount like “up to £50,000” or “up to £75,000”, in which case just make sure you select a figure that includes your home contents and garage contents together.
External Garage Insurance
A lot of insurers will treat garage insurance the same as a garage attached to the house as long as the garage requiring insurance is still within the boundary of the property.
Unfortunately if the shed is beyond the boundary of your property, such as part of a block of flats, then you may need to find a more specialist product.
The same goes for lock up insurance and many self storage companies require insurance for your contents in their units, although they normally have providers on offer.